#5DayRecommendationChallenge: Party On, 90s Comedies!

A new week, a new 5 Day Challenge!

We're circling back around to movies, this time with a weeks' worth of recommendations. First up, it's a particular sub-genre incredibly close to my little movie-loving heart: 90's comedies.

The 90's were an interesting time for comedy. There was no need to be sensitive about things like feminism or homophobia! Why not cater to every terrible stereotype at once? It's funny! Adam Sandler and his man-child persona was king, the high school makeover comedy just refused to get old (even though the actors playing high school seniors were), and gross-out humor was practically a genre unto itself.

Going back to watching old comedies, it's important to remember all of these things. Attempting to re-visit Billy Madison from a modern feminist viewpoint will never end well, but watching it to enjoy the sweet and childish message is still enjoyable. While I'm thrilled to see that our collective sense of humor has evolved away from some of the more narrow-minded offerings, sometimes it's fun to put the protester inside to rest and just enjoy a film for what it was at the time.

Wayne's World (1992)

This early 90's classic will forever remain one of my favorite (and most-quoted movies), and is something for every vaguely counter-culture teen to watch. The movie centers on Wayne and Garth, two guys whose peak achievements include collecting name tags from an impressive array of minimum-wage, minimum-effort jobs, and hosting a public access TV show from a basement. They're "rockers" in an incredibly 90s sense. Lots of flannel, long hair, baseball hats and zero tattoos, these guys lust over expensive guitars and the sexy front woman of a local band. Throw in some zany adventures and you've got a cult classic.

This isn't ground-breaking stuff, but it's incredibly fun to watch.

The film (or films, if you include the '93 follow up: Wayne's World 2) doesn't attempt to be sophisticated, but that's a large part of its charm. The characters break the fourth wall repeatedly, the film uses over-the-top effects and constantly makes fun of tv and movie tropes, uses overblown product placement, parodies other movies (with The Graduate being the most obvious inclusion) and generally just spends a solid hour and a half making fun of itself.

This is also one of the most quotable films from the 90's, introducing such gems as "schwing", "NOT", and of course, that theme song. Now it's more than a little bit nostalgic (and you just have to love that early 90s style!), but at the time, I swear, it was actually kinda cool.

Wayne's World is a stoner comedy sans-weed, and it's Mike Myers at his finest.

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